Nicholson in the spotlight over Glasgow Derby tickets

Michael Nicholson will meet with the Celtic Supporters Association on Wednesday morning with the subject of away tickets for the Glasgow Derby high on the agenda.

Five years on from reducing allocations from 7,000 to 700 there were no away fans at either of the last two SPFL fixtures of last season.

No on the record comment was made but it is believed that the move was instigated by Celtic following safety concerns arising at the January 2 clash at Ibrox.

At Celtic Park the 700 visiting fans only have opposition supporters on one side, at Ibrox the Celtic support has home fans on either side while the rear sections of the Sandy Jardine and Broomloan Road Stands are ‘within reach’.

Ibrox CEO James Bisgrove has been setting the pace on the issue with reports of an ‘olive branch’ of 700 tickets on offer to Celtic for the match on September 3.

On the Celtic Supporters Association website O’Rourke explains:

I’m meeting with Michael Nicholson on Wednesday morning, this will be our first meeting of the new season.

As you would imagine, the main topic on the agenda will be the ticket allocation for Snake Mountain, my position hasn’t changed, unless we are offered an allocation of at least 5%, and have guarantees of safety for our Supporters and Staff, then my personal position will be to keep them, and we’ll keep ours for Celtic Park.

Nothing has changed with the mob over in Govan, they might have a new Chairman and CEO, but it’s the “Same Circus, just different Clowns”

An allocation of 5% would result in around 2,500 tickets sold to Celtic supporters. It is unlikely that Nicholson will base Celtic’s decision on his meeting with O’Rourke with the Supporters Association only representing a small number of fans although the Association is the longest running supporters group.

With the next fixture at Ibrox the focus is on Nicholson to decide whether or not to take tickets- and explain his decision either way.